Openings are very hyped because “crush xyz in 12 moves” is a really good sell. “Do the hard work and you’ll actually improve after like months or years if you do it consistently” is not such a good sell.
And so every new player studies a lot of openings, gets a theoretical grandmaster position (yay, you’re equal as Black) and then blunder a piece and lose anyway.
Openings are very hyped because “crush xyz in 12 moves” is a really good sell. “Do the hard work and you’ll actually improve after like months or years if you do it consistently” is not such a good sell.
And so every new player studies a lot of openings, gets a theoretical grandmaster position (yay, you’re equal as Black) and then blunder a piece and lose anyway.